Machu Picchu is the ancient Inca city built on a mountain ridge above Peru’s Urubamba Valley.
The site stands about 2,430 metres above sea level in the Andes. Most historians believe it was constructed in the fifteenth century during the reign of the Inca ruler Pachacuti. Its precisely fitted stonework, terraces, plazas, residences, and water channels demonstrate sophisticated engineering in a steep environment.
Machu Picchu was probably a royal estate or ceremonial and administrative centre rather than the ordinary capital of the Inca Empire. Its residents likely included nobles, attendants, artisans, and religious personnel. The site was abandoned during the Spanish conquest era, although it was not directly destroyed by Spanish forces.
The wider world learned of Machu Picchu through Hiram Bingham’s 1911 expedition, though local farmers already knew the ruins. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1983, and tourism has made preservation and visitor management major concerns.